Civil Rights Movement involvement

"I would like to think because of the things I did, my daughter can do the things that she does. She barely has a recognition that she's black."

—Jackson reflecting on his actions during the Civil Rights Movement.[5]

After the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackson attended the funeral in Atlanta as one of the ushers.[8] Jackson then flew to Memphis to join an equal rights protest march. In a Parade interview Jackson revealed: "I was angry about the assassination, but I wasn’t shocked by it. I knew that change was going to take something different — not sit-ins, not peaceful coexistence."[9] In 1969, Jackson and several other students held members of the Morehouse College board of trustees (including a nearby Martin Luther King, Sr.) hostage on the campus, demanding reform in the school's curriculum and governance.[10] The college eventually agreed to change its policy, but Jackson was charged with and eventually convicted of unlawful confinement, a second-degree felony.[11] Jackson was then suspended for two years for his criminal record and his actions (although he would later return to the college to earn his Bachelor of Arts in Drama in 1972).[12]

While he was expelled, Jackson was employed as a social worker in Los Angeles.[13] Jackson decided to return to Atlanta, where he met with Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, and others active in the Black Power movement.[9] Jackson revealed in the same Parade interview that he began to feel empowered with his involvement in the movement, especially when the group began buying guns.[9] However, before Jackson could become involved with any significant armed confrontation, his mother sent him to Los Angeles after the FBI told her that he would die within a year if he remained with the Black Power movement.[9]

Quickly becoming a box office star, Jackson continued with three starring roles in 1997. In 187 he played a dedicated teacher striving to leave an impact on his students.[25] He received an Independent Spirit award for Best First Feature alongside first-time writer/director Kasi Lemmons in the drama Eve's Bayou, for which he also served as executive producer.[26] He joined up again with director Quentin Tarantino and received a Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear for Best Actor and a fourth Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of arms merchant Ordell Robbie in Jackie Brown.[27] In 1998, he worked with other established actors such as Sharon Stone and Dustin Hoffman in Sphere and Kevin Spacey in The Negotiator, playing a hostage negotiator who resorts to taking hostages himself when he is falsely accused of murder and embezzlement.[28][29] In 1999, Jackson starred in the horror film Deep Blue Sea, and as Jedi MasterMace Windu in George Lucas' Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.[30][31] In an interview, Jackson claimed that he did not have a chance to read the script for the film and did not learn he was playing the character Mace Windu until he was fitted for his costume (he later said that he was eager to accept any role, just for the chance to be a part of the Star Wars saga).[32]

According to reviews gathered by Rotten Tomatoes, in 2004 Jackson starred in both his lowest and highest ranked films in his career.[44] In the thriller Twisted, Jackson played a mentor to Ashley Judd.[45] The film garnered a 2% approval rating on the website, with reviewers calling his performance "lackluster" and "wasted".[46][47][48] He then lent his voice to the computer-animated film The Incredibles as the superhero Frozone.[49] The film received a 97% approval rating, and Jackson's performance earned him an Annie Award nomination for Best Voice Acting.[50][51] He then went on to do a cameo in another Quentin Tarantino film, Kill Bill, Vol. 2.[52]

In 2005, he began with the sports drama, Coach Carter, where he played a coach (based on the actual coach Ken Carter) dedicated to teaching his players that education is more important than basketball.[53] Although the film received mixed reviews, Jackson's performance was praised despite the film's storyline.[54][55] Bob Townsend of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution commended Jackson's performance, "He takes what could have been a cardboard cliche role and puts flesh on it with his flamboyant intelligence."[56] Jackson also returned for two sequels: XXX: State of the Union, this time commanding Ice Cube, and the final Star Wars prequel film, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.[57][58] His last film for 2005 was The Man alongside comedian Eugene Levy.[59] On November 4, 2005, he was presented with the Hawaii International Film Festival Achievement in Acting Award.[60]

Upcoming films

Jackson gave his approval for Marvel to use his likeness for the Ultimate Nick Fury. In 2008, he portrayed the character in Iron Man

Jackson has several upcoming film projects between 2010 and 2011. In 2010, he will provide his voice for the animated educational science fiction film, Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey, play a terrorist intent on attacking London in Blown, as well as a police officer in Rape: A Love Story.[88][89] In 2010, he will star in the drama Mother and Child and will portray an interrogator who attempts to locate several nuclear weapons in Unthinkable.[90][91]

In 2001, Jackson gave his consent for Marvel Comics to design their "Ultimate" version of the character Nick Fury after his likeness.[92] In the 2008 film Iron Man, he made a cameo as the character in a post-credit scene.[93] In February 2009, Jackson signed on to a nine-picture deal with Marvel which would see him appear as the character in Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America, and The Avengers as well as any other sequels they would produce.[94]

Box office performance

Jackson has said that he chooses roles that are "exciting to watch" and have an "interesting character inside of a story", and that in his roles he wanted to "do things [he hasn't] done, things [he] saw as a kid and wanted to do and now [has] an opportunity to do".[95] In motion pictures that feature him as a leading actor or supporting co-star, his films have grossed a total of $2.38[96] to $4.48 billion[97] at the North American box office, placing him as the ninth (as strictly lead) or the second highest-grossing movie star (counting supporting roles) of all time; behind only that of voice actorFrank Welker. In August 2007, Jackson stated in an interview that he wanted to play a small role in George Lucas'sIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull so that he could keep his box office position over Harrison Ford.[98] The 2009 edition of The Guinness World Records, which uses a different calculation to determine film grosses, stated that Jackson is the world's highest grossing actor, having earned $7.42 billion in 68 films.[99]

Jackson has revealed in an interview that he sees every one of his movies in theaters with paying customers claiming that "Even during my theater years, I wished I could watch the plays I was in — while I was in them! I dig watching myself work."[102] He also enjoys collecting the action figures of the characters he portrays in his films, including Jules Winnfield, Shaft, Mace Windu, and Frozone.[103] He is a comic book and anime fan.[32]

Jackson is bald, but enjoys wearing unusual wigs in his films.[104] Jackson has reflected on his decision to go bald: "I keep ending up on those bald is beautiful lists. It's cool. You know, when I started losing my hair it was during the era when everybody had lots of hair. ... All of a sudden I felt this big hole in the middle of my afro, I couldn't face having a comb over so I had to quickly figure what the haircut for me was."[104] His first bald role was in The Great White Hype.[105] Jackson usually gets to pick his own hairstyles for each character he portrays.[105][106]

Jackson enjoys playing golf, a game he has been reported to have become very proficient at.[2] Jackson has a clause in his film contracts that allows him to play golf during production.[5][19] He has played in the Gary Player Invitational charity golf tournament to assist golf icon Gary Player raise funds for needy children in South Africa. He stated that the golf course is the only place where he "can go dressed as a pimp and fit in perfectly".[6] Jackson is also a keen basketball fan, and especially favors the Toronto Raptors and the Harlem Globetrotters.[107] He also became a Liverpool F.C. fan after filming The 51st State in Liverpool, England.[108][109]